July 31, 2006

Hooked

Photo journalists apparatchiks for Hezbollah

If one hasn't been paying attention closely, one would look at the news coverage of the Middle East and think Israel unilaterally started the latest round of violence and it never suffered a single rocket strike or casualty.

Coverage by so-called America "mainstream" press, dominated by anti-Israel/Anti-American Leftists, are letting their bias come to the fore. The usual "if it bleeds it leads" is now "if it bleeds it leads - but never bleeding Jews."

Patterico examines the Los Angeles Times' obviously bigoted coverage. It is especially glaring in contrast with the LATimes acting as if it has no idea whatsoever what motivated a Muslim to shoot Jews in Seattle.

the most remarkable element of the Time report is that one could read the magazine cover to cover and never know that any Israelis had been killed and injured in their homes, in the street, in a train depot, by Hezbollah missiles.

LGF points to EU Referendum's analysis of Hezbollah's crude and calculating use of dead bodies in Qana to actually pose for photographers in the crassest of PR manipulation. Immorality on parade.

Whatever else, the event in Qana was a human tragedy. But the photographs do not show it honestly. Rather, they have been staged for effect, exploiting the victims in an unwholesome manner. In so doing, they are no longer news photographs - they are propaganda. And, whoever said the camera cannot lie forgot that photographers can and do. Those lies have spread throughout the world by now and will be in this morning's newspapers, accepted as real by the millions who view them.

In the mean time, true courage is shown by an Australian journalistsmuggling out photos of Hezbollah cowards dressed in civilian clothes manning rocket launchers in residential streets.

The images include one of a group of men and youths preparing to fire an anti-aircraft gun metres from an apartment block with sheets hanging out on a balcony to dry.

Others show a militant with AK47 rifle guarding no-go zones after Israeli blitzes.

Another depicts the remnants of a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket in the middle of a residential block blown up in an Israeli air attack.

The Melbourne man who smuggled the shots out of Beirut and did not wish to be named said he was less than 400m from the block when it was obliterated.

"Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets," he said.

"Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then it was totally devastated.

Islamist terrorist frontgroup, CAIR, is caught on tape in Columbus, OH, continuing the mendacity of "Israeli war crimes". Ciaospirit, nom-de-blog, had the courage to even try and ask "how did this start?" and "do you also condemn Hezbollah?" of the CAIR demonstrators and was physically assaulted for her daring to question the Islamist Judenhass dogma.

When reporting facts becomes difficult or dangerous, or against one's own prejudices, notice how many "mainstream journalists" eschew even lip-service to the responsibilities of their "profession."

July 28, 2006

At least three people were shot this afternoon at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle by a man a witness said was upset about "what was going on in Israel."

Police spokesman Rich Pruitt said there was one shooter, who was apprehended without incident outside the Jewish Federation Building located on the corner of Third Avenue and Virginia Street. Pruitt said there were at least two victims on the third floor of the building.

Police got reports of shots fired shortly before 4 p.m.

Early reports were that the victims were shot in the stomach.

More:

LGFMichelle Malkin has a round up of links and reminds us of the murder committed by a moslem at the El Al ticket counter at LAX and how that was consistently downplayed as a mere nut, not an act of terrorism.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A lone gunman burst into a Jewish organization in downtown Seattle on Friday, killing one woman and wounding five others in what authorities were calling a hate crime.

Police said the gunman had been arrested without a struggle inside the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, where the shooting took place, and was being questioned by police.

The gunman is a U.S. citizen, and police said initial contacts with him by phone while he was inside the building indicated that he was a Muslim.

Amy Wasser-Simpson, the federation's vice president, told the Seattle Times in a story on its Web site that the man got past security at the building and shouted, "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," before he began shooting

'Sadly, sarcasm is wasted on the stupid' -- More on Amanda's double standard and how my mocking her schtick makes her feel all dewy and damp with moral superiority

Yes, I did "put words in Amanda's mouth" when I blasted her morally reprehensible post. Anyone familiar with her "Shorter" posts should have realized I was mocking her claims in her own style. Strangely, some of her defenders take my mocking as "proof" that I am the bigot. As a friend told me in an email "Sadly, sarcasm is wasted on the stupid." And another person, whom I highly respect, chided me that my mocking has become the focus rather than the points I made and given cover to Amanda to not only ignore her functional, arguable anti-semitism, but to project it on "Teh Racist Rethuglicans."

So let's look at Amanda's claims, and omissions, one by one.

I’m swiping her observation that she made a couple of times while I was in New York about the news coverage of Israel waging war on Lebanon.

Amanda's opening is factually inaccurate. Israel is at war with Hezbollah, which is occupying, illegally, southern Lebanon. It is Hezbollah that has unilaterally committed acts of war into Israel. Thus, Amanda starts her post with a glaring falsehood.

The fear of the Wingnutteria whining has turned the mainstream media into the biggest bunch of cowards you ever saw.

Since when has mainstream media ever been "afraid" of non-leftists? The NYTimes especially has been willing to compromise national security so they can stick it to those it politically dislikes. So why does Amanda believe that somehow the Grey Lady and others are now shaking so hard their rollup stockings are falling down?

The mainstream position is to avoid even the hint of criticism aimed in Israel’s direction.

Ah! So according to Amanda, MSM is fearless when it comes to national security matters, but it shrieks in terror when it comes to a tiny nation on the other side of the world. Why? Because Amanda doesn't see her pet MSM running the kind criticism of Israel she finds suitable (ie condemn Israel and ignore Hezbollah).

The problem with that is when Israel does something so obviously odious as killing innocent civilians and holding them culpable for what an unsanctioned organization does, well, even just straightforward reporting is going to seem critical. It’s not just the media, either. There was a bit of a dust-up on Punkass Marc’s post on how he thinks Ned Lamont is going to be politics-as-usual because of his refusal to criticize Israel openly for what seems to be obviously wrong, which is, of course, killing innocents with such a slim excuse.

This is a critical passage. Amanda is characterizing Israel as "killing innocents" (implied targeting), and is doing so on a "slim excuse" (questionable/unreasonable justification). Again, Amanda only addresses Israel's actions ... she finds only them worthy of condemnation while never addressing Hezbollah, in particular, or Islamism in general. It's as if Israel, surrounded by loving, peaceful neighbors, woke up one morning and decided to invade Lebanon between helpings of lox and bagels.

whenever the fear of having right wingers equate criticism of Israel with being an anti-Semite makes a liberal or even just a journalist engage in self-censorship, that emboldens the right and undermines our position.

"Our position"? Who is Amanda including in this position of holding Israel to one standard and Hezbollah to another?

The short term gains (not getting deluded with email, avoiding the inevitable attempts of your opponent to ruin your reputation) are causing, or at least enabling, serious long term problems. And I would characterize this invasion as one of those problems.

This is really a breathtaking statement. Amanda sets herself and those she counts on "her side" in the MSM as the only thing that can restrain a rogue and unjust Israel ... as long as one is not getting nasty letters from the Wingnutteria. If one is scared of emails one is, in the long run, enabling Israel to invade. 'Course, "nasty" emails didn't keep the same MSM from continuing their campaign to destroy legal and effective intelligence programs.

now there’s a general feeling that the two views on this “conflict”

Notice the "scare" quotes around "conflict." We are back to that rogue Israel making war on Lebanon false assertion. It takes two to make a conflict, and Amanda refuses to see the other side.

During this latest round of Islamists trying to annihilate Israel, so blatant were the acts of war against Israel by Hezbollah, it startled even some of the Arab nations into an unprecedented act of condemning Hezbollah not Israel. As I linked in the last post, prominent Israeli Leftist Amos Oz shows his moral compas is right in understanding there is no moral equivalency between Israel and Hezbollah. Yet some of the Left blogsphere were strangely quiet, even Markos writing a brief post that he would not discuss it.

But Amanda's post signals a newly emerging trope. Ignore Hezbollah's act of war, condemn Israel for "disproportionate" response (remember to never define that term) and attempt to out-of-hand dismiss any criticism as part of a conspiracy of an All Powerful Jewish Israel lobby (so powerful they scare the American MSM). James Wolcott simpers and flaps his wrists at Israeli "dry rot" and generously links to Billmon who spews his "contempt" at Israelis for having the audacity to fight back.

And that's what it boils down to. Double standards. Israel has endured, without reaction, rocket attacks and suicide bombers. This after she disengaged from Gaza and made it Jew-free. That so-called "scared of Jews" American MSM has allowed itself to be used by Hezbollah (CNN confessed as much, just as it did when it shilled for Saddam). Kleptocrat Kofi Annan immediately condemns the tragic Israeli bombing of UN observers, even as it has been show that Hezbollah was using the UN post as cover for its attacks on Israel.

No nation has had its very existence challenged so much as Israel. No nation outside of America is held to such a severe double-standard as Israel.

What do we call people who engage in egregious, discriminatory double standards?

Bigots.

I don't know if Amanda is an "anti-semite" in the classic sense of personally "hating" Jews. I'm sure some of her best friends are [ethnic] Jews. But her functional bigotry in holding Israel to one standard while completely ignoring Hezbollah is clearly evident.

Israel is fighting for its very survival, and when they are condemned for it, while the people who swear in their covenants, compacts and Friday sermons that Israel must be destroyed and the Jews murdered are given a pass, then you can make of that bigotry what you will. But bigotry it is.

July 27, 2006

The moral authority of Howard Dean

"The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite," the Democratic leader told a gathering of business leaders in Florida. "We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah."

Well, let's look at some of those al-Maliki remarks, hm?

~We call on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."

~"[Israel's] excessive use of force is to be condemned."

~"What is happening is an operation of mass destruction and mass punishment and an operation using great force that Israel has--and Lebanon does not."

~"While Israel has stated its military objective is to hit Hezbollah's infrastructure and physical strength, it has, in the words of the Lebanese prime minister, torn the country to shreds."

Oops. Only quotes 1 and 3 are the PMs. The other two belong to Kofi Annan. You know, the head of the UN, the organization that the US taxpayers support to the tune of one third of the UN's budget annually?

Al Qaida 'from Spain to Iraq'

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from "Spain to Iraq."

In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaida now views "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us."

Of course, the good doctor couldn't appear without the usual shout out to his homies in the West by taking up the usual Leftist trope.

He also called for the "downtrodden" throughout the world, not just Muslims, to join the battle against "tyrannical Western civilization and its leader, America."

"Stand with Muslims in confronting this unprecedented oppression and tyranny. Stand with us as we stand with you against this injustice that was forbidden by God in his book (the Quran)," al-Zawahri said.

Amanda Marcotte 'fucking kikes are just RUINING my election party plans. Not like I hate kikes, really ...'

...at least not the one's who are smart enough to march lockstep hang with us beautiful people on the Left and not drag any of that icky, you know, jewish stuff into the open."

Granted, I don't hold a real high opinion of St. Amanda of Fornicatus in the first place. True, she can on occassion wield a right nasty keyboard, but like the Professor Irwin Corey of old, doesn't really say much. Or says things so outrageously wrong one laughs at her unconscious self-parody. Or says things so impossibly screwy and vile one sits there in awe ...

... and throws up a little in one's mouth.

However, if one could actually go into triple-digit red ink on one's account drawn on the Bank of Morality, then Marcotte douses herself with it like Karen Finley with a ten-gallon bucket of government-issue chocolate sauce.

There was a bit of a dust-up on Punkass Marc's post on how he thinks Ned Lamont is going to be politics-as-usual because of his refusal to criticize Israel openly for what seems to be obviously wrong, which is, of course, killing innocents with such a slim excuse. [...] The problem with that is when Israel does something so obviously odious as killing innocent civilians and holding them culpable for what an unsanctioned organization does, well, even just straightforward reporting is going to seem critical [...]
The problem is--if I'm free to say so without dredging up the operant conditioning debate--is that whenever the fear of having right wingers equate criticism of Israel with being an anti-Semite makes a liberal or even just a journalist engage in self-censorship, that emboldens the right and undermines our position.The short term gains (not getting deluded with email, avoiding the inevitable attempts of your opponent to ruin your reputation) are causing, or at least enabling, serious long term problems. And I would characterize this invasion as one of those problems.

See, for Amanda it's not about Israel's fight for survival. The word "Hezbollah" never even appears in the post. There's no recognition of the acts of war that Israel endured until she reacted...it's this invasion. It isn't even really about the "innocent civilians" Amanda ostensibly "cares" about. Cares about so much she doesn't know, or want to know, or acknowledge, the basic facts of the issue.

No. For Amanda it is all about Lamont and how those fucking Jews are raining on her parade. Those fucking Jews have so much power they can cow the NYTimes and Lamont into not getting with the program and dump on Israel and dump on Lieberman (that kike sleaze)!

This really is the moral dividing line. Some on the Left, while wrong on so many issues, still have enough moral decency to recognize and publicly admit that Israel is not wrong this time:

Many times in the past, the Israeli peace movement has criticized Israeli military operations. Not this time. This time, the battle is not over Israeli expansion and colonization. There is no Lebanese territory occupied by Israel. There are no territorial claims from either side...This time, Israel is not invading Lebanon. It is defending itself from daily harassment and bombardment of dozens of our towns and villages by attempting to smash Hezbollah wherever it lurks...There can be no moral equation between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah is targeting Israeli civilians wherever they are, while Israel is targeting mostly Hezbollah. Hezbollah's missiles are supplied by Iran and Syria, sworn enemies of all peace initiatives in the Middle East

The comments on her thread, by and large, engage in the same moral idiocy and degeneracy. They seem singularly incapable of grasping the concepts of right or wrong. Anti-semitic?Maybe, or maybe just a consequence of the perpetual immaturity that is endemic in the 'Reality-based Community'.

Maybe Amanda should just stick with attending N.O.W. events and worrying about sexist laundry baskets as part of the Patriarchal Conspiracy™ and leave the moral issues to the adults.

July 25, 2006

sotto voce

July 24, 2006

Hezbollah 'defiant', declares: No safe place for Israelis

While Condoleeza Rice arrives in Lebanon to speak with PM Siniora, making a sharp distinction between his government and the defacto Hezbollah authorities in the south, Hezbollah's representative in Iran was issuing further threats against Israel.

“We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis. There will be no place they are safe,” Hossein Safiadeen told a conference.

“You will see a new Middle East in the way of Hezbollah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel,” Safiadeen said.

Safiadeen reinforced earlier threats by Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to widen their attacks, which have included unprecedented missile strikes deep into northern Israel.
[..]
“This war will be remembered as the beginning of the end for Israel,” Safiadeen said.

Not to continue its unbroken record of missed opportunities and backing the wrong horse, Arab "Palestinians" ...

The Palestinian ambassador, Salah Zavavi, said he believes the chances for a comprehensive political solution have passed. Israel is also battling in the Gaza Strip against militiamen backed by Hamas, which claims to hold an Israeli soldier following an ambush last month. Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections last month, but has been snubbed by Israel and many Western countries.

“The resistance groups will not accept a political end to this,” he said. “They will not put down their weapons.”

July 23, 2006

Anti-Israel/anti-Zionist is not anti-semitism?

Then do explain the rabid antisemitic photos from pro-Hezbollah demonstrations in major cities condemning Israeli self-defense and the state of Israel's right to exist as featured by LGF (click on city links for more photos and reports of these pro-Islamist/pro-terrorist demonstrations).New York City Note the bottom poster "Any treaty with Israel is not binding on Muslim nations." This is the essense of Islamism that Western Left apologizers and apparatchiks deliberately ignore -- moslems are under no obligation to honor any promise, treaty, contract with non-moslems who haven't entered into a dhimma relationship. A non-moslem must submit to the "protection" of the superior moslem, acknowledge that superiority, accept his/her own second-class citizenship and pay a special tax to the moslem "protector." Such "protected" status can also be withdrawn unilaterally by the moslem at anytime.New York City Again, note the poster with the picture of the White House with an Islamist flag flying over it and the line Islam will dominate. For Islamists, the world is divided into two realms - dar ul Harb, non-moslem "territory of war", and dar ul Islam, territory of Islam. Do not accept the definition of jihad as mere internal struggle of a moslem with his/her sinful nature. The first and prominent definition of jihad is the state of war until dar ul Harb is vanquished and all the world is dar ul Islam.ChicagoLos AngelesLondonMoscowSidney
Please, no more sophistry about Islamists not wanting the state of Israel annihilated. When they call for Jews out of "occupied" land, they are claiming that the whole of the area, from river to sea, be Jew-free.

July 22, 2006

Why Israel doesn't trust the UN in regards to Hezbollah ...

After Hezbollah's kidnapping of a pair of Israeli soldiers spurred an Israeli counter-attack, many critics of Israel actions have suggested that the United Nations can serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah. To the contrary, the United Nations has a well-established record of collaboration with Hezbollah in the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. [...]

On October 7, 2000, Hezbollah terrorists entered Israel, attacked three Israeli soldiers on Mount Dov, and abducted them Lebanon. The kidnapping was witnessed by several dozen UNIFIL soldiers who stood idle. One of the soldier witnesses described the kidnapping: the terrorists set of an explosive which stunned the Israeli soldiers. Clad in UN uniforms, the terrorists called out, "Come, come, we’ll help you."

The Israeli soldiers approached the men in UN uniforms. Then, a Hezbollah bomb detonated—-apparently prematurely. It wounded the disguised Hezbollah commander, and three Israeli soldiers.

Two other terrorists in U.N. uniforms dragged their Hezbollah commander and the three wounded soldiers into a getaway car.

According an Indian solider in UNIFIL who witnessed the kidnapping, "By this stage, there was a big commotion and dozens of UN soldiers from the Indian brigade came around." The witness stated that the brigade knew that the kidnappers in UN uniform were Hezbollah. One soldiers said that the brigade should arrest the Hezbollah, but the brigade did nothing.

Read the whole thing - a sordid tale of bribery, fecklessness and coverup reaching right up to Kofi Annan.

Hudna in Gaza

The unilateral cease-fire is aimed at ending an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that began June 28, three days after militants raided an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the officials said on condition of anonymity because the agreement was reached at a closed meeting.

As Laurence points out, not a word about Shalit.

If you're not familiar with the tactical move of "hudna", it is a temporary truce or cease-fire in order to allow the declarants time to regroup, rearm and reattack at a time of their picking while the enemy, lured into a false sense of security, has lowered their guard. This was the tactic used by Muhammad to take over Mecca in 628. He made a ten-year "treaty" with the Kuraysh, but broke it two years later when he assessed his forces had regrouped enough to complete the conquest.

July 21, 2006

The only time I've traveled out of the United States

...is when my husband and I honeymooned for two weeks in France in 2001. It was a special time and worth the extra expense.

But I didn't expect my fellow Americans to pay for it.

What type of ingratitude and sense of entitlement is gripping the griping Americans who chose to vacation or work in known world "hotspots" that they expect American taxpayers to completely foot the bill when they need to leave?

July 20, 2006

When Kofi Annan opens his piehole, I have to stifle an urge to laugh out loud. A thief overseeing an international body that lost its moral bearings long ago, decides that the rape victim who fights back is as worthy of condemnation as the rapist.

"What is urgently needed is an immediate cessation of hostilities ... the deliberate targeting by Hezbollah of Israeli population centers with hundreds of indiscriminate weapons and Israel's disproportionate use of force and collective punishment of the Lebanese people must stop ... While Hezbollah's action are deplorable, and Israel has the right to defend itself, the excessive use of force is to be condemned."

I don't get it. What exactly would have been an acceptible, proportionate response?

I mean, besides all the Jews (and Christians) engaging in a little spontaneous combustion and leaving the Middle East as dar ul Islam?

Meanwhile, eight members of Congress voted against a House resolution condemning Hezbollah and supporting Israel's right to self-defense with the usual "Jews control America" perfidy.

I'm just sick in the stomach, to put it mildly," said Rep. Nick J. Rahall II, D-W.Va., who is of Lebanese descent.

Rahall joined other Arab-American lawmakers in drafting an alternative resolution that would have omitted language holding Lebanon responsible for Hezbollah's actions and called for restraint from all sides. Rahall said that proposal was "politely swept under the rug," a political reality he and others say reflects the influence Israel has in Congress.

"There's a lot (of lawmakers) that don't feel it's right ... but vote yes, and get it the heck out of here," Rahall said.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who co-sponsored the alternative resolution and also is of Lebanese descent, agreed. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobby "throws in language that AIPAC wants. That isn't always the best thing for this body to endorse," Issa said.

The lack of momentum for alternative proposals frustrated pro-Arab groups.

"This is the usual problem with any resolution that talks about Israel — there are a lot of closet naysayers up there (in Congress), but they don't want to be a target of the lobby" of Israel, said Eugene H. Bird, president of the Council for the National Interest, a group that harshly condemns Israel's military campaign.

"These guys aren't legislating. They're politicking," said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

Yet we know of several Arab groups that have taken to the streets in Dearborn, MI and San Franciso, NOT condemning the acts of war by Hamas and Hezbollah, or protesting the continuous, barbarous murders that Islamist terrorists carry out but engaging in anti-Semitic street theater.

July 19, 2006

Too dumb to be dhimmi

Not only does John McBride not know the history of the Middle East, but he isn't even interested in it.

One need look no further than the Middle East and Israel's battle with Islam and Islam's battle with Judaism to be totally baffled by human nature and to cause one to doubt the outcome of humanity's struggle to survive.

Baffled John doesn't know what the big fuss is about. No religion is any better than the other. No political establishment is worthy of support if some other one wants to take it over.

Both sides human, neither side "needing" Judaism or Islam to survive, and both sides willing to kill the other and to sacrifice their own to defend the "righteousness" of their position just as Christianity and countless religions and political establishments have before our time, and perhaps will continue to do after us.

Note that Baffled John doesn't even believe in defending oneself.

In other words, let's propose that I'm raised Christian, and then encounter Islam, and Islam encounters me. Islam prevails and I refuse to change or Christianity prevails and Islam refuses to change or neither prevails over a third religion and both refuse to change. Neither is necessary since Buddhism works fine, too. And Buddhism isn't necessary either. Nothing is really necessary in place of religion from an evolutionary perspective if it begins to threaten survival since it is a secondary tool for survival, not a primary tool. And even as a secondary tool it evolved in many places in many different forms readily changeable as conversion to any other "philosophy" frequently exhibits.

July 18, 2006

Durn pesky Pissed-Off Presbyterians

What? Oh, it's not? What about Beserker Baptists? Maddened Methodists? It's gotta be one of them.

BOMBAY, India - A little-known Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for the Bombay train bombings warned Tuesday that it was planning attacks against government and historic sites in India in an e-mail to an Indian television station. Also, the death toll in the July 11 bombings was raised to 207. [...]

The group claiming responsibility, Lashkar-e-Qahhar, Lashkar-e-Qahhar first claimed responsibility for the bombings in an e-mail Saturday to Aaj Tak television, although investigators say they are still trying to verify the claim.

The group on Tuesday addressed doubts about its initial claim of responsibility, and added that it plans to provide audio and video proof that it carried out the series of bombings that ripped through Bombay's packed commuter rail network during the evening rush hour.

[...]

Lashkar-e-Qahhar, which translates as the "Army of Terror," was unknown until it claimed responsibility for the March 7 bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi that killed at least 20 people.

Investigators believe the group may be a front for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that has long fought Indian rule in Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim Himalayan region.*

I mean, come on, I thought there was this equivalency thingy among Islamists and Xtians and JOOOOS. They all have their own terrorists and do about the same amount of violence.

Right?

Crud, I gotta go through my Markos' memos to see what is proper to talk about.

July 17, 2006

Party of Tolerance

You know the far-Left wears grannie panties - an old pair, where the elastic is shot and it rides up into their collective buttcrack - when they get the vapors over the President, during breakfast, saying shit in an exchange with Tony Blair and actually has :::gasp::: food in his mouth when he does!

See, that's how some of those metrosexual, Europhiles stay so thin at the myriad of banquets and fancy dinners -- they never actually eat. They just vie for the best photo-ops while carrying little plates of foo-foo food.

It doesn't explain Al Gore, but God has His little jokes on us.

Christy Harden Smith at Firedoglake swooned and called for smelling salts over this National Issue of Breakfast Blasphemy. For Ms. Harden Smith, it was just more of the same of Stupid Chimp (which probably alternates with the meme of Fiendishly Clever Bu$Hitler on a weekly basis). But what is really funny from this site of the Reality-based Community is sense of tolerance to viewpoints other than their own.

I posted this comment and it disappeared within ten minutes. I reposted it (and took the screenshot) and that one disappeared within fifteen minutes.

And then comments and trackbacks were "closed."

There was at least one other comment after mine that was pro-Bush that was also deleted.

The fantasy world of Howard Dean

This is just another dishonest statement showing how far the Dem party has been co-opteded by the far-Left Order of Lunar Chiroptera.

“If you think what's going on in the Middle East today would be going on if the Democrats were in control, it wouldn't, because we would have worked day after day after day to make sure we didn't get where we are today. We would have had the moral authority that Bill Clinton had when he brought together the Northern Irish and the IRA, when he brought together the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

When Arabs criticize Arabs ...

rather than Israel, it's time to find out if it's winter in Hell. NYTimes

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 16 — With the battle between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah raging, key Arab governments have taken the rare step of blaming Hezbollah, underscoring in part their growing fear of influence by the group’s main sponsor, Iran.

Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states, chastised Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts” at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo on Saturday.

The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel, “These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them.” Prince Faisal spoke at the closed-door meeting but his words were reported to journalists by other delegates.

[...]

It is nearly unheard of for Arab officials to chastise an Arab group engaged in conflict with Israel, especially as images of destruction by Israeli warplanes are beamed into Arab living rooms. Normally under such circumstances, Arabs are not blamed, and condemnations of Israel are routine.

But the willingness of those governments to defy public opinion in their own countries underscores a shift that is prompted by the growing influence of Iran and Shiite Muslims in Iraq and across the region.

But make no mistake, this is really an effort by Israel to draw Syria and Iran into the conflict in support of their proxies, whereupon the cabal will have the pretext for what they really want, which is the next war against these two countries. [...]

The Bush Administration’s five-year abandonment of being actively engaged in the region is now about to haunt us. [...] And who could be happy about the dissolving situation in the Middle East? Oil companies, which saw the price of their increasing inventories climb to over $76 per barrel today due to the unrest in the Middle East.

Surprised twice by small-scale border raids less than three weeks apart, Israeli leaders have made a deliberate policy decision to seize the opportunity — some call it a pretext — to mount simultaneous large-scale offensives. The goal of each operation is to smash a guerrilla organization that is also deeply entrenched in the business of governance.

July 16, 2006

Jeff Harrell gets interesting mail

Jeff wonders how he gets on some mailing lists, but he certainly receives some revealing flyers (and am I glad that he does).

Jeff makes note that the emergency march is one month away and

I can't help noticing that International ANSWER didn't call for a national emergency march every time a Hezbollah rocket exploded in an Israeli neighborhood. They didn't call for a national emergency march when Hezbollah militants kidnapped Israelis. It was only when Israel started to take steps to get their soldiers back and to force the newborn Lebanese govenment to disarm or expel the terrorists within her borders that International ANSWER thinks the time has come to act.

Just take a gander at the other two initiators of this national emergency march -- National Council of Arab Americans (NCA), Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. They don't believe Jews are even human let alone entitled to things like a sovereign nation or self-defense.

Don't worry, I won't question the American patriotism of the NCA or MASFF - like ANSWER, they have none.

9/11 Flight 77: Conspiracy myth busted

July 15, 2006

The Bird Whisperer -- UPDATED

Well, I wish. This story has just begun. [scroll down for update]

It's been one of the hottest days of the year in So. Cal. and it's still over 90 degrees outside.

About 5:30 pm, in spite of the heat, husband and I take tall cool beverages and sit on the back patio. It is a green oasis filled with plants -- two ficus trees, ferns, herbs, roses -- with some comfy seating and even a chimenea. We look across the backyard lawn and spot in the shade of a large mulberry tree a very white and out-of-place bird. A cockatiel.

I'm pretty much a cat person and what I know about birds is only from a few people I know. But I've rescued other animals, so I approach him slowly, talking and watching his body language. The bird is blinking, not trying to flee and swaying a bit. He looks in distress and with the 101 degrees at the time, I go get a pie plate to fill with water. Merely turning on the hose rouses the bird and he skitters across the lawn to get to water before I even finish filling the pan.

All I do next is sit on the ground near the water and talk to him softly and constantly. I offer him some bird food I keep for my wild bird feeders. He delicately munches some then starts to walk around me until he walks across the patio to where the hose lies coiled near the house. He finds it to his liking, his claws easily grasp it, and he settles down for a nap.

Now I'm really worried. He's still on the ground and there are neighborhood cats that might prowl through and he is going to be easy picking. So I run to my 'puter to seek advice (a shout-out to my Cotillion sisters, God love them!) while husband gets in the car and canvasses the neighborhood for any signs advertising lost cockatiel or seeing if anyone is looking.

As sunset approaches I'm told I need to get the bird inside, and either the bird is tame enough to hop a ride on my finger, or a light towel thrown over him will let me move him. I have a cat carrier and I clear out the first floor bathroom that can be his place until I can get hold of a bird rescue organization.

I then sit for another hour talking to the bird and trying to coax him into my hand. He dances back and forth on the hose, eats from my hand and as I move to capture him, he stretches his wings and flies up into one of my ficus trees.

And there he roosts right now. Six feet off the ground, perfectly camoflaged in the heavy, dense greenery. Mockingbirds nested and successfully raised a family in that tree two years ago, so the bird is safe.

I've filled two shallow pans of water for him and when morning comes I will try again to capture him.

Damn, Cesar Millan makes it look so easy!

UPDATE He spent an uneventful night roosted in the ficus. I spent yet another hour talking with him to gain his trust. He would let me get close but refused offers to get on my finger. I got the stepstool, a towel and he didn't fuss as I draped the towel over him. A couple of squawks as I removed him from the tree, but now he's safe -- and cool! -- in the bathroom, perched on the [lowered] shower curtain rod. It will be his space until I can locate a rescue organization for him.

Last week I got kittens from the shelter, this week I rescue a bird. What critters does next weekend hold for me?!

Breaking news: Israel strikes central Beirut and Tripoli (Updated)

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Witnesses said Israeli aircraft attacked central Beirut Saturday for the first time in a four-day offensive, striking a lighthouse and the capital's seaport.

In Lebanon's northernmost city, Tripoli, witnesses said Israeli helicopters carried out the deepest strike yet into Lebanon, firing four missiles into the city's port area and hitting grain silos.

Hot Air has been following the fast developments over the past 24 hours.
Also check out PJ Media's frontpage

President Bush clearly lays blame where it belongs, on Hezbollah while President Putin engages in jaw-dropping hypocrisy

"It is absolutely unacceptable to try to reach political goals through the use of force," Putin said through a translator at a joint news conference with Bush after their meeting. "At the same time, we work under the assumption that the use of force should be balanced."

Mr. Putin, why is it that you would deny Israel the means to deal with Islamists that you do not deny yourself in dealing with the same scourge?

July 14, 2006

Death Cult Hezbollah blames Israel

Make it almost a religious tenet that complete and utter elimination of this enemy will bring peace, prosperity, happy children, kite-flying, sunny skies and fluffy bunnies

Attack the enemy at will, with violence most foul and if the enemy reacts in any way, blame them for their reaction

So now after Hezbollah's act of war on Israel, the walking deadman Sheik Hassan Nasrallah reads from the timeworn script

Speaking defiantly in an audiotape on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television less than an hour after missiles struck his headquarters and home, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah addressed himself to Israelis and said they must take responsibility for their actions.

"You wanted an open war, and we are heading for an open war," he said. "We are ready for it."

And he shows how ready he is by attempting to show a grainy video and claiming it was an Israeli warship set afire by his henchmen.

The Hezbollah leader also repeated a threat to hit the Israeli coastal city of Haifa and other towns farther south. "To Haifa? Believe me, beyond and beyond Haifa."

"Our homes will not be the only ones to be destroyed, our children will not be the only ones to die. ... Those days are over, I promise you.

"You (Israelis) must take responsibility for what your government has done," he added. "You will soon discover how stupid and foolish your new government is."

May you soon be roasting in hell, Sheik, sent there by righteous Zionists. And my your Iranian masters soon follow.

July 14, 2001

Happy Anniversary!

July 13, 2006

The Potemkin soul

Josh Trevino recounts - simply, clearly, devestatingly - what it is like to spend some quality time shepherding a Hollywood celeb, Ashley Judd, on her public charity rounds in South Africa.

I asked the YouthAIDS senior person whether maybe Ashley was a bit spoiled, and she told me the story of how Ashley refused to do their first promotional tour to Cambodia unless she was allowed to fly British Airways first class all the way. “That’s quite an expense for us as a humanitarian organization….but we ended up having to do it.”

A profound love for humanity, but no time for humans: the very picture of the narcissist celebrity leftist.

And while we are on the subject of irrelevancy, Valerie Plame looks to dine out on another 15 minutes

WASHINGTON Jul 13, 2006 (AP)— The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.

The discussions with his original source, who has not yet been named, and with Karl Rove, were initiated by Novak and were discussions pertaining generally to the Niger uranium story, not the specific issue of who sent Wilson on the mission.

Novak says he did not believe the information regarding Plame from the original source was a conscious leak.

The references to Plame came up in the middle of the discussions. Novak was the one that asked why Wilson would have been chosen for the mission.

Not only was nobody pushing Novak the information about Valerie Plame, but Novak says that nobody in the administration ever said anything critical of Wilson to him.

Novak's discussion of Valerie Plame with Rove lasted about 20 seconds and consisted of Novak saying he heard Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and played a role in Wilson getting the mission and Rove replying "Oh, you know that, too?"

Israel hits Beirut Airport

Hizbollah is the defacto ruler of Southern Lebanon. After their incursion into Israel, in sympathy or in concert with Hamas (what was that again about Sunni and Shiite never cooperating?) and kidnapping two Israeli soldiers, Israel is demonstrating the consequences of others making war against it.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel widened its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas on Thursday, targeting Beirut's international airport and blasting southern Lebanon for a second day, police and airport officials said. At least 22 civilians were reported killed in the south, local media said.

Warplanes struck the runways of the country's only international airport early Thursday during Israel's ongoing air and sea assault against Lebanon, which began a day earlier after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. The airport was later closed, forcing flights to be diverted to nearby Cyprus, officials said.

In Israel, the military confirmed it had targeted the airport, saying in a statement it "is a central hub for the transfer of weapons and supplies to the Hezbollah terrorist organization."

It was the first time since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and occupation of Beirut that the airport in the capital's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs was hit by Israel.

"People are cheering this attack ... because they view it as a kind of revenge and reprisal against what Israel has been doing in Gaza," said Salah Bardawil, a spokesman for Hamas in the Palestinian parliament. "Militarily, by opening a new front against Israel, it would ease the pressure on us. Israel is using a huge force in Gaza now. It will have to use part of its military capacity in Lebanon."

I heard Dennis Prager today say we need to view Israel as the "canary in the mine." If the canary sickens, we can ignore it. When the canary dies, we can ignore it. But we ignore it at our own peril, because we are next.

Even if 90% of moslems across the world are peace-loving and wish no more than to live their lives and raise their families, that leaves something like 100 million Islamists.

100 million beings for whom life's priorities are not falling love, having a family, developing a career, doing well in school. All that is secondary to death. They prefer death than tolerating a world where others live, love and worship differently than them.

And that 100 million will not stop with Israel in the dream of dar ul Islam.

Question remains ... do you want your granddaughter to be forced to wear a burka?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the Hizbollah attacks as an "act of war" by Lebanon and promised a "very painful and far-reaching" response.

"Fulfilling its pledge to liberate the (Arab) prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance ... captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine," the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbollah said in a statement.

"The two captives were transferred to a safe place," it said, without stating what condition the soldiers were in.*

This is where "diplomacy" must consist of Israel unequivocally stating to the Islamists "release the prisoners in good condition and unconditionally or massive bombing starting at your capitals begins in 72 hours." Then do it. The thugs understand nothing else.

Israel is the frontline of dar ul Harb that dar ul Islam wants to wipe out with as much fervor as Hitler wanted the Rhineland.

July 10, 2006

Goldstein still under DDoS, Frisch still crazy

Protein Wisdom has been spotty all weekend, currently down, as now (last count) it is under yet a third DDoS attack.

And the "mea culpa" from Demented Deb lasted just as long as it took for her to "resign" her adjunct position with Arizona University. She thanks the obsessive-compulsives at S*dlyNo! for applauding her vicious and (IMHO) criminal remarks.

my unfortunate experience at protein wisdom.

An unfortunate experience is dropping the cheesecake on the way to the dining room. An unfortunate experience is getting drunk at a wedding reception and falling on the floor during the Chicken Dance.

I don't count threatening a two-year old with sexual assault and murder an "unfortunate experience."

Color me pessimistic (eight years at a DA office getting the proctologist's view of society will do that to one) but I think this matter really should be criminally pursued. Deb has a long stalking history and her willingness to ramp it up each new experience, even at the risk of losing a job, makes me wonder what the next frisching will entail.

As Viktor Frankl said, there are only two races in the world, the decent and the indecent. Deb and those supporting her or making excuses for her are squarely in the latter camp.

July 09, 2006

Frisched!!! - Deb's new dictionary legacy

I was away from my 'puter almost all of yesterday, so by now I'll assume you all know about the lame and mentally ill Deb Frisch, PhD, who decided to take her well-documented, demented style of trolling to new heights at Jeff Goldstein's site.

I was there when she first poked her pointy little head in on July 4[note: link is to Google cache as Jeff's site is still currently experiencing problems after being under a denial of service attack since Friday night] and when she didn't get the response she wanted, ramped it to new heights ... er ... depths of depravity. At that time we all started digging into Deb's background (and I am very happy to include myself in that "we") and found a startling pattern of sick cyberstalking ... and the fact that Deb brags about her indecent behavior.

1. frisch

Internet term. Verb. To invalidate your position in an online debate by making thinly veiled threats against the life or sexual dignity of your opponent's spouse or child.

A classic frisching: "If some nutcase kidnapped your child tomorrow and did to him what was done to your fellow Coloradan, Jon-Benet Ramsey, I wouldn’t give a damn."

by Michael Andreyakovich Scottsdale, AZ Jul 7, 2006

As Beth observes

It just occurred to me–Deb Frisch didn’t even get a whole weekend out of this. Those 15 minutes went faster than Jesse MacBeth’s!

But Deb still doesn't Get.It. Regardless of her resignation (Michell Malkin posts a copy of an email from Azrizona University confirming said resignation) she is still eschewing her responsibility in this affair.

So for some members of the far-left wing of the blogsphere that either are halfway supportive of Deb or just dismiss it as No.Big.Deal (I'm looking at you, Bitch PhD) I ask, is your hatred of Jeff so great that even Deb's clear moral indecency and actionable behavior gets a pass?

July 08, 2006

Cat blogging - new babies in the house

It's been a little over a year and a half since we lost Feathers. I've been offered kittens several times but just haven't felt the time was right to start again. Last month I even traipsed through some local shelters, but none hit that crystal chord inside take ME home.

Until yesterday. I tried one of the smaller, older ones in my area, knowing that while I couldn't adopt them all, I could give a home to two. I spotted two little balls of fluff, sisters, one of them looking remarkably like Feathers! Six weeks old, they'd never known anything but the kennel at the shelter. I filled out the paperwork, tucked them in the cat carrier and brought them home.

It didn't take them long to start exploring, scampering around the first floor, climbing up on the couch, and (typical kitty fashion) climb into my lap and immediately fall asleep.

I'm in love.

I put out the call to my Cotillion sisters for names and, immediately got a great set!

July 07, 2006

POWER TO THE PEOPLE (only if they agree with us)

New York's highest court has harmed both the constitutional guarantee of equal protection and its reputation as a guardian of individual liberties by denying same-sex couples the right to marry.

The 4-to-2 ruling by the Court of Appeals, which left standing the state's discriminatory marriage laws ...

Note that the NYTimes states "discriminatory" as if this is an established fact. They don't/won't discuss that even the idea that the definition of one man/one woman marriage is "discriminatory" is both recent and historically unprecedented. If we are to assume that marriage law is "discriminatory" due to gender of the people involved, then we can also assume that it is discriminatory due to number of people. Or familial relationship of the people involved.

... comes at a time of intense debate over gay marriage. [...]

But the immediate impact of the decision is to shift the battleground over gay marriage from the state courts to state lawmakers.

OMIGAWD! Hold your head and run in circles, scream and shout! How dare anyone even contemplate that the definition of a public institution be left to The People!

The NYTimes is left of center, but not a far-Left fringe paper. They are mainstream Left and this official editorial demonstrates that all the posturing by the Left about "power to the people" is lip-service.

July 06, 2006

Joe Biden using his teeth for a self-pedicure

The would-be presidential candidate proved it again on a recent trip to New Hampshire, where C-Span cameras caught him telling an Indian-American activist that Indian-Americans are the fastest-growing immigrant group in Delaware.

In fact, Biden said, “You cannot go into a Dunkin Donuts or a 7-Eleven unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

Tokyo Murtha update: The video tape debunks his own press release

I first posted on Murtha's Miami shoot-from-the-lip here. Then there was a dustup from Murtha supporters that he couldn't have said such a thing. I even posted on the controversy here, noting that I wanted to see the video or hear the audio before I took Murtha at his word.

For illustrative purposes, I provided the example of a recent Pew Poll which indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a danger to world peace than consider Iran or North Korea a danger to world peace.

Compare that with this from the video

Just think what that does to us internationally.

On the debate on the floor of the House, and I was leading the debate on the floor, and this one fella says, "You talk about terrorism." He says, "Ask Spain."

Well you ask Spain. Fifty six percent of the people in Spain think it's more dangerous, the United States is more dangerous in Iraq than Iran is.

Everyone of our allies think that the United States being in Iraq is more dangerous to world stability and world peace, every one of our allies; Great Britain, every single country... They think its more, uh, we're more dangerous to world peace than North Korea or Iran.

That says something.

Where's the Pew Poll?

Kevin asks Will the Sun-Sentinel revise their story yet again? And a better question is why did they do a hatchet job on the original story, introducing information directly from Murtha and his supporters into the coverage, with no sourcing? They hung their own reporter out to dry.

Considering the orchestrated campaign to "get" the Sun-Sentinel reporter and the pressure for the newspaper to "correct" the story, we should be surprised?

As commenter Cliff Hancuff claims in my second Tokyo Murtha post

We here at "The World of Journalism Is Flat, Too" tip our hats to all those who have taken up our cause that we began at 12:03AM Monday, June 26, 2006, when I sent an email complaining about Elizabeth's article to 39 staff members at the Sun-Sentinel and 70+ staff members at the Arizona Star.

I'm not surprised.

UPDATE I just went back and visited Murtha's press release. The link to theinfozone.net, which Cliff has been pimping for, is gone. Hmmmmmmm.

July 04, 2006

Celebrating the American experiment

I put my flag out this morning in honor of our 230th birthday. I've written and rewritten in my mind what I could possibly post today that could accurately convey to you the profound love and pride I have in my country.

I know that is "old fashioned" and there have been any number of sneering, mean-spirited posts from the Order of Lunar Chiroptera about how awful America is, how even hearing the song God Bless America causes them physical pain. I feel pity for them and I am ashamed of them. They are the spoiled child, surrounded by ten exquisite gifts, screaming and cursing because they don't have fifteen.

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~~Abraham Lincoln

When my girls were in high school they all were members of the band. And each year the band put on a joint concert with the Marine Band, usually the one from Camp Pendleton, once the one from the Recruit Depot in San Diego. The concert was billed as Music Americana and the closing was always both bands jammed together on stage performing Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. The packed audience would be on its it feet, clapping along, cheering the piccolo section and tears would flow freely. How could someone not be moved by such music, especially when performed by the country's future and its defenders?

Patriotism -- An abstract word used to describe a type of behavior as harshly practical as good brakes and good tires. It means that you place the welfare of your nation ahead of your own even if it costs you your life. ~~ Robert Heinlein

As I was growing up, public schools were partners in teaching good citzenship. Organizations, like Scouting (and I was a Girl Scout) also reinforced American values. We internalized them. Did we fully understand them? Not as children, anymore than children understand why their parents make them eat vegetables and restrict desserts. However, it created a foundation, a touchstone, that we could look back on and say "Hell, yes, that does make sense! I believe that, too!"

Duty, honour, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn." ~~ Douglas MacArthur

Does patriotism mean blind loyalty? No. One of the Ten Commandments is "honor thy mother and father." Note that it doesn't say "love" them. Even if your parents become "unloveable" it is your obligation to honor them and the fact your existence is because of them.

And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. ~~John F. Kennedy

Ethical monotheism has a practical side. It assumes that certain rights are inviolable, beyond the reach of any man. Certainly, totalitarians of all manner might actually suppress these rights, but they don't disappear. Human beings are not basically good or evil. Our morality, our destiny of heroism or villainy, is entirely in our own hands. So it is vitally important, and we owe our fellows and our children, the tools to identify the moral and the traditions and expectations to reinforce it. Duty cannot be imposed by rule or statute. It, like fidelity in marriage, is a promise one makes to oneself. And the willingness to internalize that promise, to desire it as the measure of a honorable person, can be helped or hindered as proper watering and fertilizing yields a bumper crop of life sustaining food.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. ~~last line of the Declaration of Independence

We are not aware of all the details of the lives of the 56 signers of Declaration of Independence. Some may have been prone to tippling, or bursts of anger. Some may have cheated a neighbor or broken their vows to their spouse. Some may have been prone to violence, brawling in a public house or raising their hand to their children. But in that one moment, that one fleeting instance when they risked all they did have for an ideal, they put their moral bank account in the black. They exceeded the vagaries of themselves and their neighbors and passed on to us, their ideological descendents, a priceless gift.

May we all strive to be worthy of them.

Happy 4th of July and our good wishes and prayers for the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

July 03, 2006

Mt. Soledad War Memorial - Execution stayed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court intervened Monday to save a large cross on city property in southern California.
A lower court judge had ordered the city of San Diego to remove the cross or be fined $5,000 a day.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, acting for the high court, issued a stay while supporters of the cross continue their legal fight.

Lawyers for San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial said in an appeal that they wanted to avoid the "destruction of this national treasure." And attorneys for the city said the cross was part of a broader memorial that was important to the community.

Let me add a rather provocative statement I heard Michael Medved state only about an hour ago (paraphrased as best as I can recall).

You cannot be a proud, patriotic American and be hostile to America's Christian heritage.

The poltroon that has pursued the destruction of this war memorial should leave this country for one more suited to his black little heart.

No commentary necessary

July 01, 2006

Israeli missiles hit Arab 'Pal' PM office

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft fired missiles at the Palestinian prime minister's office early Sunday, just hours after a Palestinian official said the soldier whose abduction sent Israeli troops into Gaza is alive and in stable condition. [...]

Inspecting his burning office, Haniyeh called the attack senseless.

"They have targeted a symbol for the Palestinian (sic) people," he said.

No, Haniyeh. Israel burned down the empty building where you plot acts of war. Take it as a warning shot fired across the bow.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack and said it would "employ all means at its disposal ... to secure the safe return" of 19-year-old soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit who was abducted by Palestinian militants on Sunday. [...]

Haniyeh issued a statement calling for foreign intervention to stop the Israeli offensive.

"The international community must shoulder its responsibility," he said.

BWHAHAHAHAH! If the "internationl community" had one ounce of moral fiber, you and the rest of the terrorist Hamas thugs would have been a thing of the past long ago.

The NYTimes - What the fifth columnists said four years ago

With the NYTimes so deep in the throes of BDS that they would rather kill a legal and successful intelligence program (and if American soldiers or civilians are subsequently murdered ... oh well) than allow any credit devolve to the Bush Administration. So it is interesting to follow how a mere four years ago, the NYTimes was berating the Bush Administration for not being more aggressive in intelligence gathering.

WESTPORT, Conn. - President Bush has just stepped up efforts against the international financial network that provides the lifeblood for Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist organization. He is setting up an interagency Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center and has signed an executive order to cut off terrorists and their supporters from the United States economy. These are good first steps, but much more will have to be done.

We should begin by recognizing what we're dealing with. It is wrong to think of Al Qaeda as being financed primarily by Mr. bin Laden. If there were a single source of financing, the problem would be much easier to solve. More important is Al Qaeda's global network of financial donors, Muslim charities, legal and illegal businesses, and underground money transfer businesses.

We should also recognize what can't be accomplished by targeting the financial network alone. Such actions will not, by themselves, strike a death blow to Al Qaeda. Here in the United States, we have been doing after organized crime's financial network ever since we convicted Al Capone for tax evasion. But organized crime still exists. Nonetheless, by disrupting the criminal financial network, we will force Al Qaeda to take time and money to rebuild it -- and in the process help obstruct terrorist operations.

In the United States, we have strong anti-money-laundering laws and bank regulations. But virtually none of this exists where Al Qaeda raises and moves most of its money -- namely in predominantly Muslim countries where banking systems are underregulated and in the informal hawala banking system that is almost completely unregulated around the globe, including in this country.

The administration should now make broader use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the law cited by President Bush in his executive order. That law allows the federal government to threaten to cut off foreign governments and institutions from the American economy if they do not take action against the Al Qaeda financial network or cooperate in giving the United States information on terrorist financing.

This strategy was adopted by the Clinton administration after the terrorist attacks on the American embassies in East Africa in 1998, when President Clinton signed similar executive orders against Al Qaeda and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. In some instances, it worked. The efforts helped ground the Afghan national airline, making it harder for Al Qaeda to move resources back and forth from Afghanistan. But over all, we had only limited success. In some cases, foreign governments lacked political will. In other cases, the governments had little ability to help because they had no system to combat money laundering or to audit fund-raising organizations. In the wake of the recent attacks and greater attention to charities that provide direct fund-raising links between Al Qaeda and societies in the Middle East, the Bush administration may be more effective in pressuring other governments.

Clamping down on terrorists' finances will also require Congress to act. In addition to its powers under existing law, the federal government needs the ability to cut off rogue banks without having to prove publicly a direct connection to terrorists. Unfortunately, a bipartisan bill that would have allowed sanctions against countries and banks that operate as money-laundering havens was stopped last year by Senator Phil Gramm. That bill has been reintroduced this year and new hearings are scheduled for today. The legislation is more necessary now than ever.

Congress also needs to make sure that we are fighting all forms of terrorist fund-raising at home by expanding anti-money-laundering regulations to cover securities brokers, casinos and the underground hawala system here at home.

Efforts to take down terrorist groups through military actions will probably take longer than we appreciate. Dismantling terrorism's financial network could take even more time -- which is good reason to start now.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the suicide wishes of the contemporary American far-left who are so eager to have more terrorist action on American soil. I'm tired of far-Left's bad faith excuse for responses, exemplified by the Heatheresque perfidy of yet another'chickenhawk' meme by a rather silly, shrill and puerile female who proudly will not understand the issues at hand. In contrast, Fausta points out Protocol I (aka terrorist protection act) of the Geneva Conventions was specifically rejected by President Ronald Reagan and, to this day, has never been adopted by the United States.

So while the UN continues to engage in explicit antisemitism and an allegedly "Western" country puts a book author on trial for insulting Islam, what we get from the NY and LA Times to Tokyo Murtha to the giggling Left cultists, is that it is America that is the problem ... and they are damned well going to do their best to see it fail until us rednecked, Zionist, neocon, godbag, Christianist, homophobic, misogynist, election-stealing, chimpyluvrs start electing the CORRECT people who will bring us PEACE [through surrender].